


An Old Ring

by bela013



Series: Fantine x Javert [9]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, can I start tagging this as a ship now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 14:25:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/979980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bela013/pseuds/bela013
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Funny how it always comes down to Javert running around after people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Old Ring

Javert was a man of methods, so he spent a whole night practicing what to say to Fantine. He only had one chance of telling her about his plan, and the possibility of her taking offence in what he was saying was great. But that was two days ago, when he hadn’t spent a whole day running all over the city after the mayor, much like a mad man.

 

After Fantine practically told him her life story to him when they first met, he decided to look closer to the Mayor. Of course, he was only able to comply to this, after he came back with Cosette. During the two weeks that he visited mother and daughter after working hours, he investigated the man that passed as Mayor, only to find him to be a criminal from his own past.

 

It was a coincidence that he was designed to this city, even if it was as if he was supposed to capture this man, and bring him to justice. It was also a coincidence that he only learned about the mayor’s true identity the day he was to ask Fantine to marry him.

 

But that was yesterday, and he ran all over the town, he’d been to the factory, he’s been to the mayor’s house, he even went to the church after the man, but he seemed to always be one step behind of him. It did not help that at each sharp turn or jump, he’d pat his chest, making sure that his mother’s ring was still there. That day was a nightmare, he couldn’t catch the man he was supposed to bring to justice, and all that running around only allowed him to arrive home. He couldn’t have visited Fantine that way, he could barely speak, much less ask something so important to her.

 

That wouldn’t be a problem per say, he still had one day. He would have to leave for the trial where he’d have one more chance at catching that parole breaking prisoner, but he still had one day. Or he would have had it if he hadn’t slept in.

 

He could blame it on the fact that he only arrived at the crack of dawn at home, but it wouldn’t change the fact that the sun was not rising, but setting when he woke up. Then again, Javert was not a man to make up excuses for his mistakes. It was unfortunate that his sleep wasn’t fulfilling, not only it made him late, but it left him disoriented and sore.

 

In a rush, all he did before leaving was grab to his coat and check for the ring before dashing out and going straight for the old doctor’s house. The memories of the day before came back much like a déjà-vu, when all the doctor could offer him was excuses, claiming that he could not hold them back, that the woman was too stubborn and bent on her ideas to be convinced to stay for a big longer. Luckily, he could inform him that they had left not long before, and that he might catch up with them if he ran. Which seemed to be all he did lately.

 

And it was just like the day before. Javert shouted at the doctor, telling he would be back to pay his bill and took off running. He didn’t meant to be late today, he planned for this, he had all his words ready, and if he caught Fantine in a good mood, he would be able to say them with no problem. But now, he wasn’t so sure, that woman was a fierce creature when angry.

 

It was safe to say that he have never been this tired, even his legs and feet were sore. He had already ran after one man that week, a man he wasn’t able to catch. Now a voice in his head taunted him, claiming that he won’t be able to find them either. In a twisted sense, this voice helped him, it made him run faster in spite of the burning feeling on his legs and the cold wind in his face. He had to find them, if he left before finding them and doing what he went there to do, they might disappear on him.

 

At each street junction and corner, his head would turn, looking for them. It was the same as yesterday, his experience didn’t help him them, and it wasn’t helping him now. The sound of his feet echoed on the empty streets, it was a bit after sundown now and they were on the old part of the town, only the elders lived there, and they were all inside their homes, especially because the chill air was still about. This only meant that they were walking alone on the streets. Why in the nine circles of hell would Fantine simply leave with her daughter, why couldn’t she wait just a bit more?

 

Getting near the market street now, he could spot a wiry figure holding hands with a child at the end of the opposite street. It was just a second, but Javert stopped to catch his breath, and doubts took advantage to invade his mind. What if it wasn’t them? What if it was? Would he do what he planned on doing, and will Fantine reject him if he did? Closing his eyes and silencing the voices, Javert knows that he must be fast, the starts were starting to come up in the sky, and he had to leave in the morning. Once his eyes opened again, he could see them doing one more turn away. And acting on an instinct, he sprints to their direction, running past and spinning around to block their path.

 

Javert gasped for breath as Fantine and Cosette stood there, watching him with wide eyes and slight open mouths. Were he on a better state, he’s find entertaining how alike they were, but he wasn’t, so he breathed and thanked that it was them and not complete strangers that he had just approached in such manner.

 

“I’ve been looking for you two.” with his words, Fantine’s face forgot her shock and took a turn on anger, which meant that he had to be fast if he wanted to ask her to marry him. “And, I was confused about where you’d go, so I-”

 

“Are you sure that you were worried?” her voice was as cold as the wind around them, and Cosette looked up to him from her place at her mother’s skirts. Unlike Fantine, she had a sad face, almost disappointed. “If you were so worried, you’d surely come to visit us as you usually do.”

 

“I was looking for you, and now I’m here, what does yesterday matter?” this whole couple of days were hell bent of making things hard for him, and he did not like that one bit.

 

“We don’t need yet another man who disappears on our lives, Inspector. We can’t afford to allow men like you to come near us. ” She made a move, as if turning around, Cosette was already a step ahead. They were leaving, and the fact that she choose to see him by the light of other men after all he did offended.

 

“You can’t.” he didn’t shout, he was not a man for shouting, but his voice carried out on the street, and his hair blew on his face. One of his hands made a grab for her thing arm, and he held on, trying not to hurt her, but still making her stay in place.  He only wanted her to hear him. “I wouldn’t disappear. And if I had arrived earlier, you’d never believe that. I can prove it to you”

 

Fantine pulled her arm away from him, but he still held her in place, which made her mumble things under her breath, and were he paying attention to her, he’s be sure that those were curses that only her girl’s presence kept her from screaming. But Javert was too busy in extracting the ring off his coat. This wasn’t the perfect situation, he didn’t want to force this on her, so he let go before showing the ring to Fantine, who had just took a step backwards and was holding her arms away from him.

 

“Do you see?” Javert offers her a hand, waiting for her to take it on her own. “I wanted to offer you this. And to ask you a question, if you’d allow me. After all I’ve done, the least you could do listen.”

 

Fantine looked at the ring with confusion and apprehension, none the less, she still nodded her consent for him to go on. Cosette on the other hand, seemed to understand what the ring was for, but all she did was watch them with a light of morbid fascination on her face.

 

“It’s one of my mother’s old rings” it was a gaudy thing, with a square black stone on it, but after he cleaned it, the silver in it shinned, even under the now faint light of the moon. “And I wanted to give it to you.”

 

“Why would you give me something that belonged to your mother?” Javert recoiled his hand and took a small step towards and them, pleased that neither stepped away, took another, and only when he was a step away from Fantine, that he offered his hand again, the ring sitting on his palm.

 

“Because I want you to be marry me”

 

***

 

Fantine’s hand went for the ring in when he asked that of her. And she only wanted to make sure that the ring was real and not a vision. Surely, Inspector Javert would want to marry a woman like her, especially because he knew of her daughter and of the things she did for that daughter. She couldn’t believe it, so she reached for his hand and touched the ring that was very much real.

 

To be honest, Fantine had her own reservation towards marriage, no matter that it was to a man she trusted, on her own terms that is. To be stuck with a man who was sure to have his own urges scared her, but she knew how worse it could be. The Inspector was only one man, a man who would care for her and her daughter in ways that she wouldn’t need to beg for her old land lady for a room, or that she wouldn’t have to leave Cosette alone, to go sell her body in the streets. This wouldn’t be too terrible, better be at the mercy of one man’s urges than many.

 

So Fantine breasts out a ‘yes’ and has the heavy ring slipped on her finger.

**Author's Note:**

> I hate these dorks who can only make me feel sad. And this one was bigger, as I said last time, Javert gave me a hard time, so his part was huge. And don't worry, anything that isn't properly explained will be on the next fic.  
> And I hope that Fantine's conflict can be understood as something that is real, because at the same time that she is sacred/angry/cautioned with men, she trusts Javert. And her past didn't magically disappear because a person treated her well, she's still influenced by the things she went through, and I'm going to ignore that.
> 
> But just a heads up, there will be no Valjean on this fic, I can't write him to save my life, believe me, I tried and it was horrible.


End file.
